1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for target or position reconnaissance, and to an apparatus for implementing the process. More specifically, the invention is directed to a novel method and apparatus for artillery guidance in correlation with the content of a mission memory storage of reconnaissance platforms.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A process and an apparatus for target or position reconnaissance is known from the article "KZO-BREVEL" by P. Haeffner, in SOLDAT UND TECHNIK, Issue 1/1993, pages 26 et seq. describing, by way of example, the use of a drone as an aid for artillery guidance and control through target spotting reconnaissance, and which is supplemented with overlapping comprehensive position scouting. Instead of a self-controlled or remote-controlled drone, it is also possible to employ articles of reconnaissance submunition as sensor carriers; such as in the form of airborne bodies of the type described in German Laid-open Patent Appln. DE-OS 33 13 648, or scatter ammunition as described in German Laid-open Patent Appln. DE-OS 41 04 800. Especially in the two last-mentioned instances, reconnaissance information which has been obtained about the enemy territory must, in every case, be immediately transmitted to a ground station which controls the reconnaissance action. This entails considerable expenditures with regard to the provision of technical equipment for setting up a stable, and eventually through the interposition of relay stations, wide ranging radio connection, thereby increasing the danger of betrayal to enemy defensive capabilities. In contrast therewith, a drone with interim stored reconnaissance data can be again recovered, and as a result does not require any communication link with the ground station.
Usually the positions on the terrain which are of interest relative to the instantaneous location of the sensor carrier are measured by means of methods involving reflective beam position finding (directional and running time evaluation). Thereby, a more or less greater error has to be taken into consideration, depending upon the apparatus parameters. This targeting error is still further increased by virtue of the fact that even through the use of satellite navigation (GNSS-GPS or -GLONASS; as described in FUNKSCHAU, Issue 17/1988, page 16, lower left) there are encounted positional uncertainties in the order of magnitude of several tens to hundreds of meters during the determination of the mission position finding on board the senor carrier; and in any event, as long as the NAVSTAR-precision code is not accessible. This error in position measurement, which can be traced back to clock synchronization errors and orbiting errors (satellite orbit deviations) enable themselves to be reduced when through a so-called relative spot determination were to be undertaken by simultaneous comparative measurements at the same satellite from different positions (FUNKSCHAU, Issue 24/1989, page 60, bottom center); or when from a geodetically measured reception location, the actually prevailing deviation of a satellite-supported positional determination were to be communicated to the mobile receiver (refer to German Patent Specification 41 36 136). However, such corrective measures require maintaining a constant data radio link between the ground station and the current mission location; and any items of corrective information which may be obtained therefrom are against lost if the relevant reconnaissance data are transmitted by way of undefined radio links at one of a plurality of possible locations which, in practice, cannot be predetermined, and later on cannot be determined; such as having to be transmitted into an integrated weapon guidance and control system, and then processed therein, from different of such locations and further transmitted. For example, a target point is to be located by a surveying procedure a plurality of times, and critical movements by enemy units are to be inferred from the subsequently observed target point movement. However, for this purpose, the decision-maker is presented with items of reconnaissance information from various equipment carriers and/or which have been obtained at different points in time which, precisely considered, he cannot combine in order to provide a comprehensive communication, because each individual item of information is possibly tainted with an unknown positional error. More specifically, reliable results are no longer attainable because it is already impossible to reliably determine the current actual position of the various reconnaissance platforms, and during the subsequent positional analysis, the positional errors encountered at that time are unknown.